Gay Video Review	Gay Video Reviews Archive

Mirage
Rating: 4 Stars
Raging Stallion Studios. Produced by Michael Brandon and Chris Ward. Edited and directed by Chris Ward. Written by Chris Ward, Jake Deckard, and Steve Cruz. Videography by Ben Leon. Music by JD Slater. Starring Jake Deckard, Steve Cruz, Dirk Jager, Huessein, Max Schutler, Tamas Eszterhazy. Marc LaSalle, Rambo, Matthieu Paris, Collin O'Neal, Tommy Blade, Dominic Pacifico, and Justin Christopher.
How to order

Advertised as "in the tradition of Arabesque," Chris Ward's Mirage falls somewhere between the heat of that 2006 blockbuster and the lickerish campiness of Raiders of the Lost Arse. It's actually a sequel to the latter. This 264-minute epic revisits the tomb unearthed five years ago in Raiders, where a team of rugged, randy archaeologists tangled with the resurrected mummy of "Sethmosis" at an Egyptian burial site. Mirage opens with robbers ransacking Sethmosis's tomb in search of a solid-gold ushabti, a figurine intended to perform chores for the deceased in the afterlife.

I

View our poll archive

t's never stated just what makes this ushabti so special (as gold antiquities go, it's unimpressive), but it does seem to have the power to make all who come near it fall out their clothes and have sex. The moment the statue is found, an eight-man orgy erupts. The participants break into duos and trios, then reconvene past the two-hour mark for a seething denouement. The sketchy story doesn't kick in until the end of the first disc, when Cruz, a double-dealing American, slips out of the crypt naked, ushabti in hand, and dashes for a waiting plane piloted by Raging Stallion's reigning Man of the Year, Jake Deckard. The pair flies off, only to crash-land in the desert. They're pursued by the sheikh who commissioned the tomb robbery (Dirk Jager) and three of his henchmen. As soon as they're captured, another sexual marathon ensues on searing desert rocks.

Standouts among the A-list cast include Deckard, Cruz, furry wonder Huessein, and wily, muscular Jager, who gets to tell Steve Cruz, "You taste nice for somebody with such rude manners." Under Chris Ward's sure-shot direction, the group scenes in Mirage may be the best Raging Stallion has offered since its 2003-'04 Sexus trilogy. Ben Leon's videography is at its luscious best in the expertly lit tomb sequences, though less effective in the arid, sunstruck landscapes that pass for Egyptian terrain. The desert scenes appear to have been shot in the same corner of Upper Egypt where Raiders of the Lost Arse was filmed, somewhere between Palm Springs and Cathedral City, California.

This two-disc set's principal bonus is a behind-the-scenes featurette structured around a discussion involving Ward, Deckard, Cruz, production assistant Kent Taylor, and videographer Ben Leon. Its revelations include an acknowledgment that the tomb set's Egyptian bric-a-brac -- sarcophagi, canopic jars, and whatnot -- includes items borrowed from Universal Studios and purchased on eBay. A well-made companion feature with a self-explanatory title, Arabian Fist, is separately available.